How far was British expansion in East and West Africa driven by the men on the spot?

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Sinéad Longden

How far was British expansion in East and West Africa driven by the ‘men on the spot’?

There are many different causes that are attributed to Britain’s expansion in East and West Africa. One of which is the ‘men on the spot’, these individuals like Goldie and Mackinnon, were no doubt instrumental in British expansion, however fair weight has to be placed on the other factors as well. Foreign competition is a recurring cause throughout many different countries’ history for some key decisions. The Scramble for Africa is no different and so perhaps the expansion was led by this need to compete with other countries and to retain the supremacy Britain enjoyed. However, similarly somewhat to Egypt, internal affairs and local crises could have a role to play in the decisions Britain made.

Sir William Mackinnon was a Scottish ship-owner who proposed a scheme in 1877 in which a group of Britons led by him would administer the whole area from the coast to Lake Victoria in the name of the Sultan. The interest he showed in this area suggested to some that this could be a valuable piece of land. However the fact that they would be doing in the name of the Sultan suggests they were not looking to add the area to their formal empire. Britain wanted to create legitimate trade in East Africa and Mackinnon proposed they use the Sultan’s authority to do so. However Lord Salisbury, the foreign secretary, actually asked G.P Badge to go to East Africa under the pretence to help with legal forms but actually to ruin the plan. G.P Badge was effective and irritated and annoyed the Sultan so much that he refused to allow Britain to expand their authority in East Africa. Although Mackinnon was one of the first to set up a scheme that could work and expand Britain’s power in East Africa, it was clearly not attractive to the government and this shows that Britain was in no rush to increase their responsibility in East Africa, even if it was under the Sultan’s authority. Therefore Mackinnon could only have a limited impact. Although he was one of the first people to suggest the idea of seriously expanding in that part of Africa and so, for that, he could have helped drive the expansion a little. Similarly in East Africa a German man was also looking to expand his country’s authority. German Karl Peters went to East Africa in 1884 and, although the government told him he was acting alone, he made many treaties with several chiefs. After the Berlin West Africa conference the German government publicly announced that they would accept the territories secured by Peters. The interest from another country also led Britain to secure more land in East Africa, although this may not have happened if not for Peters. In West Africa the key figure was Sir George Goldie. He originally went to the Niger after being left some shares in a company trading on it. In 1879 he persuaded a number of companies who traded on the Niger to join together to form the United Africa Company, later changed to National African Company. The success of Goldie and the other traders on the Niger did make West Africa seem more attractive to the British government. After French companies were threatening British success on the Niger Goldie and the chairman of the National African Company, Lord Aberdare, tried to persuade the British government to make a deal with France to leave the river below Timbuktu. However Goldie and the rest of the company eventually forced the French out themselves by undercutting their prices and forcing them to sell out in 1884. By forming a collection of the traders on the Niger Goldie made it clear to the government that they were substantial businesses and that perhaps with all their success the British government should look more seriously at West Africa. The trading possibilities would have surely made the British government look more closely at West Africa.

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One of the reasons why countries started to expand so rapidly in Africa is because of foreign competitions. Each country wanted to improve or protect their position on the world stage. In East Africa the key countries involved were Britain, Germany and France. Germany’s man on the spot, Karl Peters, had already secured territories for Germany and so this led Britain to want to make sure she also had land there. This part of Africa had unknown sources of wealth and, even if there was nothing, Britain wanted to take the risk to make sure no other country could ...

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